Matches
by MondayRose8
Summary: What if Obito really had died? Everything would change...or would it? Some things are destiny but others can be changed. One match can lead to a blazing fire.
1. Prologue

Matches

Uchiha Itachi placed his hands on the ground in front of him and bowed so low that his forehead brushed the grass. It was a traditional sign for submission, but in this case, it was in mourning. Although he was only four years old, Itachi was certainly old enough to know what death was, even if he wasn't able to understand it.

"Do you know what this means?" his father had asked him before they went to the funeral. His father, a man of few words, broke his silence today as he spoke of Uchiha Obito, Itachi's older cousin. They were words of honor, and Uchiha Fugaku spoke of the grand things Obito would have achieved if he had only lived longer. But it was commonplace in the shinobi world to die young. At 13, Obito would not have been the youngest.

"It means Obito won't be around anymore." Itachi had responded, with minor confidence. All Fugaku did was nod in response.

The funeral had been over for a while and Obito's body had been long buried, but Itachi found it calming to remain by his grave. The sky was cloudy, but it seemed to mock the funeral as rain never came. Eventually, Itachi's mother had placed a hand on his back.

"It's time to go, Itachi." she whispered. Standing up and shaking his legs out a bit, Itachi followed slightly behind his mother. Itachi had always been a taciturn child, but he seemed unusually quiet. Itachi hadn't even known Obito that well. The two were almost ten years apart, and had only hung out during clan events. "Do you remember much about Obito?" Mikoto asked, turning her head slightly to look at her son. His face remained passive, but there was something in his eyes that spoke volumes to Mikoto.

"I remember playing with him." Itachi responded in a muted tone. "He was nice to me." Mikoto walked on in discomfort, for the silence was stifling. There was nothing she could do for her son, as she watched him suffer. The first casualty of war, Mikoto learned, is always innocence.


	2. Chapter 1

**1**

"Uchiha Itachi." The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, stood before the young Uchiha with his arms folded across his chest. Behind Itachi was Fugaku, who stood and stared at the Hokage. "It has come to my attention that you are excelling in all of your areas of study in the Academy."

"Will you be graduating him, then?" Fugaku interrupted, impatient. Minato shook his head.

"I will not allow any child to graduate from the Academy until they are twelve. However, I have contacted an old friend of mine and he has agreed to return to Konoha and train Itachi." he explained, pacing in front of his desk. Fugaku seemed to understand, but Itachi was puzzled.

"Who is training me?" Itachi asked, cocking his head to the side. Itachi, although only seven, possessed an indomitable willpower when it came to learning new jutsus and has far surpassed even some chunin. However, the Hokage had created a law that prohibited any student of the Academy to graduate before they turned twelve. They were no longer at war.

"You'll find out soon, my son, if you don't know already." Fugaku patted his son's head before directing him out of the room. "Go on back to the compound, I have things I need to discuss with the Hokage." Nodding, Itachi followed his father's instructions to the letter. Fugaku, making sure he couldn't sense Itachi anymore, closed the door behind him and walked back into Minato's office. Minato had pulled the blinds so that the only source of light came from the powerful lights in the ceiling. Offering to Fugaku the chair in the corner, the Uchiha leader dragged it so that he sat in front of the Hokage's desk, and Minato sat behind it. "This is not an ideal meeting place for me, especially if we are to discuss my clan." Fugaku began, folding his hands across his lap and maintaining eye-contact with the blond leader. Fugaku felt at a disadvantage as he looked up into the eyes of a man who was clearly shorter than he.

"I understand, however this is something of grave importance." Minato spoke in a low tone, adopting a stern look on this face. "Orochimaru has defected, and there is reason to believe that he is after the sharingan." _Itachi's sharingan_. Minato didn't need to say the words for Fugaku to know exactly what he was talking about. Orochimaru had been after the sharingan for years, tempting younger Uchiha's into his lair to study the eyes. Fugaku and his police force always caught the children before they fell into his clutches, but never had enough proof to send Orochimaru to jail. Fugaku looked around the room out of habit, eyeing the windows and the door. He couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.

"Is that why Jiraiya has agreed to come back to the village?" Fugaku asked, even though he knew the answer. Minato closed his blue eyes and nodded, his spiky blond hair falling into his face.

"He promised to return when Naruto was old enough, but I asked him to train Itachi so he could prepare himself. No matter how skilled Itachi is, he's nowhere near Orochimaru's level." Minato explained, his elbows resting on the wooden desk as he pressed his fingertips together.

"So you know that Orochimaru is after Itachi?" Fugaku asked. Minato nodded once again.

"Never before has there been a sharingan as powerful as your son's, Fugaku." Minato stated simply, as though it was common knowledge. Standing up, he reached out and gripped Fugaku's hand in a firm shake. "I'll speak with you as soon as Jiraiya gets in." Bowing his head slightly, Fugaku left the room and walked down the hallway when he felt a chakra spike. Turning around, he saw Itachi, panting slightly and holding a red lollipop.

"Itachi!" Fugaku barked sternly, "Come here now." Dropping his head in shame, Itachi ambled toward his father. "What did you hear?"

"Everything, father." Itachi admitted. If it were possible, Itachi would have dropped his head so low that it would have fallen through the floor. Fugaku grunted in annoyance before crossing his arms over his chest.

"So you know the threat against your life." It was more of a statement rather than a question, but Itachi responded anyway with a slight nod.

"Yes, father." he said quietly. Fugaku closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with his hand. Turning around he began walking away with Itachi trailing slightly behind.

"Then you must not slack." He spoke once they had left the Hokage Tower. "Understand?" Itachi nodded vigorously.

"Yes, father." Fugaku studied his young son; sometimes it was easy to forget that Itachi was six years old, for there was something in his eyes that seemed older than even Fugaku.

"What were you doing back by the Hokage's office?" Fugaku questioned. Itachi lifted his head and held out the red lollipop to his father.

"I wanted to get a lollipop from Mai-san!" Mai was the Hokage's assistant with a stash of lollipops that would rival the Akimichi clan, and it was the second worst-kept secret in the entire village. Fugaku found that, no matter how hard he tried, he could not remain angry with Itachi when he seemed so excited about a lollipop. The two walked back to the clan compound in silence while Itachi snacked greedily on his lollipop.

* * *

Jiraiya stopped in front of the large, green gates that led to the village of Konoha. Breathing in deeply through his nose, he welcomed the familiar smell of hustle and bustle and steaming street food. The first thing the sannin wanted to do now that he had returned to Konoha was have a nice, relaxing time at the hot springs—maybe catch a few glimpses, too—but Jiraiya knew that his return was of great importance to Minato. All Minato had told him was that there was an incredibly talented shinobi that would benefit from his training, so Jiraiya did some recon of his own. Uchiha Itachi was simply an academy student, but from reports, Jiraiya could tell that he had the ability to become one of the most powerful shinobi this world had ever seen. 'Such potential,' Jiraiya mused, rubbing his chin with his thumb and index finger. The power of the sharingan was rivaled only by the rinnegan, and Jiraiya had only seen that once in his life. Deciding to actually enter the village instead of standing outside the gates, Jiraiya waved at the gate guards and strolled toward the Hokage tower. He was technically early, so he didn't need to rush. Besides, Jiraiya wanted to take in the sites. A lot had changed since he left.

Jiraiya knew he had taken too long when he approached the Hokage tower to see Minato standing out front, arms crossed and Hokage robe flapping in the wind. He had opted against wearing the hat.

"Jiraiya-sensei." Minato nodded curtly. "We have to talk." Whirling around, Minato began to walk quickly inside the building and up to his office. Jiraiya actually had to pick up the pace to keep up.

"Why in such a rush, Minato?" Jiraiya joked as soon as they entered his office and the door was shut. "I would think that a man with a newborn would be more tired." Minato sent Jiraiya a warning look, though there wasn't much anger behind it.

"Kushina is pissed off that you haven't been to see Naruto yet." Minato reminded him, and Jiraiya rubbed the back of his neck, sending Minato a timid grin. "Anyway, have a seat. I have to brief you on your new student." Jiraiya dutifully took a seat and quickly made himself comfortable, draping his long arms over the back of the chair.

"Itachi, right?" Jiraiya asked. "I did some looking up on him. He's a talented little kid, but he's still just a little kid." Minato nodded, but he was tapping his fingers on his desk quickly. Jiraiya had never seen his former student so uncomfortable.

"There's a lot of pressure from the council to have him graduate as soon as possible. Danzo is insisting I allow him to join Root, the not-so-secret secret organization that he has." Jiraiya almost started laughing. If the second worst-kept secret in Konoha was Mai's lollipop stash, Danzo's Root was the first. "I've managed to hold them off until Itachi is twelve, but I want him better prepared for when Danzo does go after him. Because he will." Once Minato had finished explaining, he rested his head against the desk, and Jiraiya could finally see how exhausted Minato really was. Dark purple bags cradled his eyes and his famous blue eyes that usually shined brightly were dull. Minato exuded an air of exhaustion. "Jiraiya, it's hard work running a village." Minato muttered into his desk. "And it's even harder when you have the Uchiha yelling at you on one side and the Council yelling at you from the other."

"Why is the Uchiha 'yelling' at you?" Jiraiya asked, his fingers curling in air-quotes as he spoke. Minato lifted his head off the desk only to rest it on his palm.

"They're concerned about Itachi's life. Not only is he the heir to the entire clan, they think he could become Hokage one day." Minato explained.

"Is there a threat against his life?" Jiraiya asked. He was intrigued by this Itachi, and was looking forward to assessing what the Academy student could do. Minato immediately sobered up and nodded.

"Orochimaru." That was all he had to say, for Jiraiya knew that his old teammate would stop at nothing to exploit the abilities of the sharingan, especially one as strong as Itachi's.

"I'll start training him right away." Jiraiya said, crossing his legs and settling back into the chair. "And I'm sure Kushina won't be upset if this meeting runs a little long. You look like you could use a nap." Minato looked up at his former sensei and nodded frantically.

"Naruto never stops crying." Minato's voice began to crack. "I've fathered a demon child." Jiraiya couldn't help but laugh heartily at Minato's misfortune.


End file.
